Nutella Innovation: Growing the Nutella product family with Plant-Based
Over the past 60 years, Nutella® has become one of the world’s most beloved products, famous for its authentic taste of hazelnuts and cocoa, as well as its unique creaminess. Millions of consumers start their day with Nutella to spread positivity, feed togetherness, and bring unbeatable taste and enjoyment to their table.
While we officially celebrate 1964 as the launch of the Nutella brand, the concept for the product was born even earlier. Its ancestor dates as far back as 1946, when a Giandujot recipe created by Pietro Ferrero was produced in loaves that could be cut into slices and sold wrapped in aluminum foil.
An icon that keeps innovating
The original evolution of Nutella from loaf to spread made it the first of its kind. At the time, chocolate spread was a brand-new product category - other companies were still only producing solid chocolate bars.
But it also paved the way for our continuous innovation with the product.
We know Nutella is an icon, and love finding new ways to bring its famous taste to market, so we can keep fulfilling consumer needs and expectations. Thanks to our dedicated Ferrero laboratory teams, we now offer a wide variety of Nutella products for the breakfast table and beyond.
Over the past 10 years, Nutella has brought fans a range of new taste experiences, including Nutella B-ready, an innovative and practical way to enjoy Nutella anywhere; Nutella Cafè, the first restaurant owned and operated by Ferrero; and Nutella Biscuits, the first and only biscuit with a creamy Nutella heart.
Innovative production
It’s not just what we make – it’s how we make it. For example, our Nutella Biscuits are produced at a plant in Balvano, Italy. For more than 30 years, the plant has been dedicated to producing baked products with quality and care at heart. Since launching Nutella Biscuits, we’ve invested over €120 million to create a line at the plant which uses state of the art technology - including artificial intelligence - to guarantee precision assembly of every biscuit. After all, it’s crucial that the lid closes perfectly on each one, so the Nutella stays inside!
Latest innovations
As proof that we’re committed to continuous innovation, we’ve launched two new Nutella products in the past couple of months alone. In August, we announced Nutella Ice Cream – a pot that perfectly combines layers and ribbons of creamy Nutella with the smoothness of a distinctively soft hazelnut-flavoured ice cream.
But we’re especially proud of Nutella’s latest innovation - earlier this month, we revealed Nutella Plant-Based.
Welcoming more people to the family with Nutella Plant-Based
Delivering the same unmistakable Nutella experience using vegetal ingredients, Nutella Plant-Based is a true showcase of brand innovation and means we can welcome even more people to the Nutella family.
Nutella Plant-Based is creamy and delicious, and still full of roasted hazelnuts and flavorful cocoa, but removes milk and introduces rice syrup and chickpea. It embraces a growing demand for plant-based products, where increasing numbers of consumers are choosing to reduce or avoid animal products for dietary or lifestyle reasons.
Just like traditional Nutella, Nutella Plant-Based uses Ferrero’s “sacco conosciuto” approach in selecting and tracing quality ingredients that respect our commitments to sustainability. The cocoa used is 100% certified and traceable back to farmer groups, while palm oil is 100% RSPO certified, fully traceable to plantations and guarantees zero deforestation. The packaging of Nutella Plant-Based is fully recyclable, featuring a glass jar made from 60% recycled glass, a recyclable plastic lid, and a paper disk.
More to come…
We know Nutella is loved worldwide, which is why we want to keep introducing new ways to make people smile with the product. That’s why we’re not stopping here. Watch this space for even more Nutella innovations to come.
Which is your favorite Nutella product so far?
